


It's Not Deceit

by Rulerofyouall



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Abused Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Anxiety Disorder, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders Has Panic Attacks, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders is a Little Shit, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders is a Sweetheart, Blood and Gore, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders is Extra, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders is a Good Friend, Deceit Sanders Angst, Dubious Morality, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Glitter, Good Deceit Sanders, Gore, Hurt, Hurt Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Hurt/Comfort, Inappropriate Behavior, Inappropriate Humor, Just....Remus, Logic, Moral Dilemmas, Morality, Morality | Patton Sanders is a Good Friend, Platonic Anxiety | Virgil/Creativity | Roman/Logic | Logan/Morality | Patton, Prince Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Protective Morality | Patton Sanders, Social Anxiety, Swords, Sympathetic Deceit Sanders
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-26
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-05-20 00:31:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19366666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rulerofyouall/pseuds/Rulerofyouall
Summary: It truly wasn't Deceit they should be worrying about; Virgil knew that much. There was one side who was violent and crude, and that was Remus. He and Deceit had suffered at his hands long enough. It was time to take a stand.





	1. It Begins

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil and Deceit talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing!

It was true. He was one of them. It wasn't like he had been hiding it or anything. Back in the day, he was extremely negative, so he was surprised when Thomas hadn't known about his prior allegiance with Deceit and Remus. Well, allegiance was the wrong word for it. He certainly aligned himself more with Deceit since they were both truly self preservation traits, but Remus had haunted the two of them for the majority of Thomas's life.

Remus had made it clear in the last video that he was violent and crude, spontaneous and unexpected. He and Deceit would be kept up 24/7 by his screams, his nails dragging down chalkboards, or just the fear that he would come at one of them with some sort of weapon. Remus, in short, was an abusive butt. He terrorized the two self preservation traits and gave them scars they would never forget.

In truth, he and Deceit had planned to run away to the light sides together and start anew. They hoped that they would be able to find camaraderie in Creativity over their mutual hatred of the intrusive trait, but that didn't happen. Roman seemed just as abusive as Remus was at first. Deceit had encouraged Anxiety to stay where it was safe, but he departed back to their old home.

Virgil had felt betrayed, lonely. Deceit knew how much trouble he had in new places and around new people, especially when they didn't particularly like him. He put up walls and didn't forgive his old friend. His anxiety worsened, and it showed on Thomas. Soon, however, the light sides realized that he too was beneficial to their host; he had already known this. He wanted only to protect Thomas.

Then, Deceit came back wearing the face of Morality. He seemed to have been changed by Remus. He wondered how many more beatings he had sustained, how many nights he had laid awake wondering if Remus would show up. He was overall different, and he seemed to want the worst for Thomas. Why would he recommend lying to his friends?

But Virgil had given it some thought. Deceit was trying his best, trying to do what was right for Thomas. He wanted him to go to the call backs and advance his career. He wanted security.

Remus hadn't changed, but he had finally appeared to Thomas. That gave him more power over the host, more power in the mindscape. He would travel more frequently in the common areas, and this scared Virgil. Fear. Wasn't that what he was all about?

Nevertheless, it was unsettling to see him outside of the dark side of the mind or outside of the imagination. Virgil didn't like it. Patton and Logan had not experienced as much of the abuse that he, Deceit, and even Roman have. He had to protect them. He had to stop Remus from hurting the ones he loved. But how? He had lost all of his power as Anxiety; he was no longer frightening enough to the others. Every time he tried to do what was right, it devolved into chaos. He just couldn't do anything right.

Deceit had been coming up more often after the trial, after Virgil realized what a poor friend he was being. He couldn't help it really; he was just a bit overprotective of Thomas. So much so that his own anxiety would make him reject the friends that he loved so much, that provided him with sacred constancy.

"Virgil, you look calm." Deceit frowned as he sat down on the bed. The two sides were sitting in the anxious one's bedroom. Deceit was still innocent, innocent as he could be with Remus in their past. He did not know what had happened in the video yet. "What is going on?"

"Remus." Virgil glared at nothing. "He showed up today in the video. He knocked out Roman. He attacked Logan. He was seen by Thomas."

"This is good." Deceit took off his hat and tossed it across the room, ignoring the subtle eyeshadow that was beginning to appear under his eyes. "Has he been traveling around the mindscape more?"

The anxious side nodded his head in confirmation. "Yeah, I saw him in the kitchen. Scared the shit out of me, mind you. He wouldn't stop eating his stupid deodorant."

"This is pleasing news to me." He shivered slightly. "The others?" He knew he wasn't the most popular of sides, but he was still incredibly concerned about them. They had been talking more and more since Thomas first recognized him, and he had thought that they were at a sort of truce. Not that they were fighting, but they were at peace.

"Roman is a bit shaken. Patton is helping him with his head injury; Logan thinks he has a concussion. Remus brained him pretty hard. Logan is feeling better though. I think he needed something to bolster his confidence. Patton is feeling really guilty right now, but he's working on lightening up a bit." Virgil sighed.

"And you?"

He shrugged. "I thought that it was common knowledge that I used to live down with you and Remus, but apparently, Thomas didn't get the memo."

"You were being subtle. You were so sweet to them and everything."

"I know, right? Several of Thomas's videos are literally about me not being the..nicest of the group."  Virgil crossed his arms and huffed.

Deceit looked around warily before leaning closer to his good friend. "What do you think he is planning?"

"He probably would like Thomas to act of the thoughts he suggests, but I think Logan took care of that. I don't know. He might just want to cause some demented chaos."

"He will spare the others." He commented, fingering his sleeves.

"I know. I don't know how to protect them. I'm supposed to be this great guardian, but I don't even know where to start anymore. They aren't scared of me. They don't take me seriously." Anxiety pinched the bridge of his nose.

Deceit pursed his lips. While he couldn't speak the truth, he could ask questions. "Do you think Remus tormented Roman like he torments us?"

"Yeah, if today was anything to go by. That's why you've been getting close to him, right?"

The deceitful side confirmed this. "He doesn't understand."

"I don't want him to ever hurt Patton. I couldn't protect Roman or Logan today, but I'll be damned if he get to touch Patton too."

Deceit squeezed Virgil's thigh. "Don't you know that they never blamed you?"

"Yeah, but I should have known that this was coming." He shuddered.

There was a knock at the door.

"Were you expecting someone?" The snake-like side hissed lowly.

"No." He whispered back, trying to shrink into the shadows. Anxiety pulled Deceit into a corner of the room, trying to hide them from the person at the door.

"Deceit! Virgil!" It definitely wasn't Roman, Patton, or Logan. "I know you both are in there. What fun! I get to have you two both to myself." He cackled.

The door clicked open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated!


	2. Remus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The door clicked open

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing! This is my first time writing Remus, so please be gentle. Triggers: some mentions of death, suicide, some violence

The green-clad man sauntered into the room, flung the door shut behind him, and snacked on another stick of deodorant. He looked confused as his eyes flicked around the room, but eventually, they fell onto the corner the two other sides had been hiding in.

"Deceit and Anxiety, back together again. I feel left out." He pouted and crossed his arms.

"That deodorant must be so healthy. I truly commend you for eating those sticks. You totally aren't going to poison yourself or anything." Deceit picked up his bowler hat from the floor and slid it back onto his head.

Remus laughed hysterically. "You're lying! I'll poison myself and die! A painful, horrible death filled with things like kidney failure and despair!"

Virgil pulled the deceitful side back, but he resisted. He knew that his friend only wanted to protect him, but Deceit could handle this for now. He was strong enough to do this.

The anxious side spoke up from the corner. "Why are you here?"

"Am I not allowed to see my good, dear friends?" Remus said in fake sadness. "I'll get lonely and sad, and I might hang myself out of despair! Wouldn't you like that? To just find me one day while you are going to get your coffee, hanging from the ceiling?"

"No, of course we don't want you to do that." Virgil made a frustrated noise. "What do you want from us right now?"

"Oh, well, Roman was being boring, so I figured I'd pop on over here to see what you were doing! Unless, of course, you want me to go to Logan or Patton." Remus smiled.

Deceit fingered his gloves. "By all means, go to them. Leave us in peace. We would rather you harass them."

"Oh, all right! If you insist!"

Virgil sputtered to life. "He's lying to you! You know he is!"

The demented side pretended to look confused for a second. "Now, why would my good friend try to manipulate me this way?" He threw a knife at the guilty one, and it impaled his forehead. He fell back and crumpled onto the ground.

The anxious side winced as he heard the accompanying thud. "He's going to need some wine after this." He hissed to himself.

"Is he, Virgie? Will poor, poor Deceit resort to the bottle to deal with his problems? Will he drive? Maybe he'll kill a few small children."

Upon noticing Deceit's lack of movement, Virgil nudged him with his foot. He groaned loudly and slowly began to stand up, knife still in his skull. Anxiety rippled along his spine. All of the ideas the dark version of creativity was suggesting was triggering his condition.

"Well, now that Thomas knows about me, I could always go bother him, don't you think?" Remus hummed.

"Impossible." Deceit pulled the knife from his head quickly as though he was ripping off a band aid. It did hurt quite a lot, but he was concentrated on getting rid of Remus.

"You don't know what is possible when I'm involved. Say, don't you think us misfits should pack together? The light sides will never truly accept you. Especially you, Virgil. Thomas is never going to forgive you for being a dark side. You broke his trust." He wiped away some fake tears.

Virgil bit his lip, forcing his anxieties down. "I am not a misfit anymore."

"Have you looked at yourself recently? You're the definition of misfit."

"Can you be quiet for a second?" Deceit interjected.

As it turned out, no, he could not be quiet. Instead, he chose to scream as loud and as high as he possibly could and held it for a few seconds.

"Ha! I win! I distracted you two." He grinned, happy with himself.

"I did not miss that." Virgil cursed to himself and brought himself up to be as tall as he could. "Look, we don't want you here, so if you could bippity boppity back off, we'd appreciate it."

Deceit paused. "Did you get that from Roman?"

"Yeah, I did." He flushed a bit. "But I liked it, so I'm using it."

"You guys really don't want me? Why does no one want me?" He all of the sudden seemed very depressed. "I can't control being who I am. Thomas was the one who separated Roman and I."

Deceit and Anxiety paused for a moment, confused.

"He's lying." The deceitful side decided. "Remus, darling, you should know that you can't lie to me."

"Oh, yeah? And what? Get submitted to the punishment of perjury?" He mocked.

Virgil hesitated. "That's not what he said-"

"I'm paraphrasing!" He took a bite out of the deodorant. "Don't want to get caught plagiarizing, now do we?" He tutted.

"Remus, know that we want you here. Our lived are incomplete without you." Deceit rolled his eyes. "Sometimes, you are just unbearable. Sometimes not. Feel free to stay."

He toed the floor. "You guys are being boring." Remus sighed. "Oh, well. We'll see if there is any validity to the term 'bored to death!'" He swung himself around dramatically and skipped out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Suggestions and comments are welcome and appreciated!


	3. Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus left Deceit and Virgil

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing!

Deceit rubbed his head wearily, wincing as his fingers ran over the area that Remus had hit. No matter how long they had known him, no matter how many times Remus assaulted them, they would never truly get used to Remus attacking the two of them. Their bodies were not made to be abused.

"Are you okay?" Virgil furrowed his brow and observed the now healed skin.

Deceit nodded his head, avoiding the spoken lie. He didn't like the way he spoke; in fact, the 'dark' sides would mock him for this. Insecurities assailed him from all fronts, but thankfully, Virgil never made fun of him for the way he had to speak.

"You sure?"

"I'm not going to drink white zinfandel tonight." He admitted. If Patton was the Dad of the sides, Deceit could say that he was the Wine Mom. He had brought the anxious side up basically all on his own after all. Virgil had come about in Thomas's teenage years when his anxieties were increasing in number, and he had decided that he wasn't going to let anyone hurt him, whether it would be Remus or the light sides.

Virgil sighed and grabbed the deceitful side's arm, gently pulling him towards the door. "I think you've been in here too long. Your eyeshadow is getting dark."

Frowning, Deceit strayed away from his friend and moved to the mirror. He was right. Dark, black eyeshadow had appeared boldly on his face on both the human and the snake side. The deceitful side noted that he could barely see some of his scales anymore.

His scales. He had tried to distance himself from them long ago, but no matter how much time passed, he would never appear fully human. Remus particularly liked to make fun of him for this. Most of them could pass as human, but his animalistic trait was on his face, the first thing people saw when they met him. And they judged him for that. For so long, the light sides had assumed he was evil in part because of the way he looked. What sort of person could he be with such a monstrous appearance anyway?

"You're anxious." Virgil frowned. "What are you thinking about?"

"Just...things." Deceit turned on his heal and walked towards the door. "Shall we?"

The anxious side darted towards the deceitful side. "Yeah." He paused. "Do you...do you need anything? I know I haven't been the nicest recently, but....I am here, you know."

"There is nothing wrong with me." He insisted.

"We can go see Patton." Virgil mentioned. "Visiting him usually makes me feel better."

"Does he even like me?"

"He will. He just needs to get to know you."

Deceit shook his head. "I don't think he won't like me."

Virgil took a moment to undo the double negative. "Come on." He pulled the side in the direction of the common area, where Morality normally hung out.

"Hey, kiddo!" Patton brightened upon seeing his dark, strange son.

"Hey, pop star." Virgil sat down by the kitchen table, and Deceit followed him. "Remus came into my room."

The moral side froze in his position. He had been washing some dishes. "Are you two okay? What did he do?" He knew that they didn't have the best history with the others.

"The same stuff he has been doing." He bit his lip. "He stabbed Dee in the head."

Patton's eyes immediately flickered over to the other side. "Are you okay? I know Logan seemed to be okay after he got stabbed in the video, but he's been having a really bad migraine ever since. Does your head hurt? I could get you some ice."

Deceit glanced at Virgil for a moment before returning his gaze to the moral side. "I would not appreciate some ice." He smiled; his head was killing him. "Thank you."

"All right, let me get you some ice, kiddo." He turned towards the ice maker and pressed it, collecting many ice cubes into a bag.

Virgil stood and walked to the sink. "Can I help with this?" He gestured to the dishes.

"Of course, kiddo!" Patton tightened the cap on the ice bag and handed it to the deceitful side. "Here."

"Thank you." Deceit was confused. Why was he being so nice to him? He had been against him in the videos and had even impersonated him before.

Perhaps he was wrong. Perhaps the light sides were more open to his presence than he initially thought. Perhaps he could become friends with them.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated!


	4. Roman and Logan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman and Logan have a discussion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing!

"How could we have been so blind? We should have seen it! I should have seen it! What is the point of me being Creativity if I don't pick up on these things?" Roman moaned from where he was sitting.

Roman and Logan had been hanging out in the fanciful side's bedroom watching old Sanders Sides videos and eating popcorn. Well, Roman was eating popcorn. Logan was eating a piece of toast absolutely smothered in Logan's Berry Crofters. But besides the matter, they had gotten up to My Negative Thinking, and they had finally noticed an error.

"I said...'conversated' instead of 'conversed.'" Logan made a face. He had gone pale and white.

"I should have noticed during editing. I should have gotten Thomas to fix it." Roman fingered his shirt sleeve aggressively.

The logical side sighed. "Roman, there is nothing we can do about this now. It is not a major enough mistake to warrant a reupload. Additionally, Virgil might become involved if we mention this to Thomas. We shouldn't give him anxiety over this."

The creative side collapsed onto the sofa. "I should have seen it. We should have fixed it back then."

"We did not do so." Logan shook his head. "As the logical side, I should have said the correct word, but I did not. I made a mistake, not you."

"But Odin's eye patch, did I slave over the video during editing! I didn't catch 'infinitessimal' either!" Roman frowned. "And now, there's this."

He should have seen it. He should have caught it. But he didn't, and there was nothing he could do about that now. He wasn't going to lie to himself.

There was a knock at the door.

"Let me get that." Logan popped up and walked over, turning the knob and opening the door.

It was Deceit. He was holding a few wine glasses and a bottle of white zinfandel, his favorite type of wine.

"I haven't been lying!" Roman pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I didn't know that." Deceit was let into the room, and the sides sat down on the sofa. He offered the creative side and the logical side a glass. "I wasn't told by Virgil that you were experiencing a spike of anxiety for some reason. I didn't want to check on you, and I didn't bring wine. I thought you wouldn't need it."

Roman grinned. "Thanks, Deceit. I could really use some wine right now. I just noticed that Logan misspoke again in a video."

"Do you think we could do anything about it now? Wouldn't Thomas look different if he decided to refilm that one part?"

The fanciful side looked up. "You're right. We don't look exactly the same as we did when we filmed it. It would ruin the continuity in the video, so there isn't anything we can do about it anymore." He swallowed all of the wine in his glass at once.

"Take your time, Roman." Logan warned.

Deceit poured him some more wine. "Virgil and I didn't run into Remus earlier. He's not bored."

Roman groaned. "Ugh, I hate that guy. He wasn't entertained by bothering you guys?"

"Yes. We engaged with him well, so he decided to stay." He shrugged.

Logan adjusted his glasses. "He'll probably come and try to distract us soon."

"I hope not. He's really irritating, and I don't think I can deal with him right now." Roman huffed.

There was another knock at the door. The three of them fell silent and waited, hoping that whoever was knocking would just leave.

Deceit took a sip of his wine, but that caused him to start coughing. He had started choking on his drink.

Roman made a face. "The noise!"

The deceitful side realized his mistake and stifled his cough.

There was another knock on the door, this one much louder and more aggressive.

"He knows we are here." Roman ducked his head.

"It might be Patton or Virgil." Logan pointed out.

Deceit shook his head. "It probably is."

The door knob jiggled, and there was another knock.

"He's getting impatient." Roman whined.

"He probably isn't going to stop anytime soon.  We should just let him in." Logan reasoned. "The sooner we let him in, the sooner he gets bored and leaves."

The fanciful side gave an exasperated sigh. "Fine."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Suggestions and comments are welcome and appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated!  
> I know I have another story where Deceit is the bad guy, but he's good in this.


End file.
